While there are a great many contrasts between the religions of the world and Christianity, there are some distinctions I find remarkable. First, the content of faith is different. The soteriological emphases of other religions look forward to an afterlife with the hope that enough has been done by the individual to satisfy whatever requirements are in place for entry into that realm. In this sense, it is a hope that lacks confidence. Christianity, conversely, rests on the knowledge that our hope is certain, and that what was required for our entrance in the Kingdom and life eternal has already been satisfied. Faith, then, is the joyous hope of expectation.

Related to this, the conception of sin is necessarily different. For many religions, sin is the breaking of rules and regulations and thus taking a step backward on the salvific road. This yields a sort of checklist mentality, in which one could conceivably maintain a tally to record how far along the road they are. Christianity, however, conceives of sin differently. Tim Keller, in his recent book, The Reason for God, makes the following point:

Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from him...Sin is not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things. It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship to God (162).

It is only with this sense of sin that our faith could be conceived of so differently than the other religions of this world. As a member of one of these religions, committing a sin takes one a step back, and necessarily requires two steps forward in order to make progress. For Christians, however, no satisfaction remains to be accomplished. Therefore, a step back does not necessitate steps forward as compensation. Though we must strive for perfection and holiness, we remain in the grip of God's grace. And although the commission of sin steers us off course, all that is required of us is to reorient the desire of our hearts to him. With eyes fixed on him, we run the race before us knowing that we will endure (Heb. 12:1-2).

Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, said in his 1849 book, The Sickness Unto Death, that faith is "that the self in being itself and wanting to be itself is grounded transparently in God." Our identity consists in being united with God by a bond that cannot be broken because the blood of Christ holds it together. Though our sin strains that bond as we try to locate our identity elsewhere, it cannot be broken once we are in the hands of the Father. What extraordinary joy and comfort is found here. We are then motivated to love, serve, and obey God not because of what we seek to attain, but because of what has already been attained. Our faith lies here, in the assurance of what we have hoped for (Heb. 11:1).

Labels: Christianity, faith, grace, religion, sin, Søren Kierkegaard, theology, Tim Keller